Shelf life under the refrigerator conditions of mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis, L. 1819) packaged with modified atmosphere

In this study, mussels which were taken of crusts and cleaned from byssus (Mytilus galloprovincialis, L. 1819) were divided two groups. First group was packaged with MAP (%75CO2+%25N2) while the second group by vacuum packing and then both of them were stored at refrigerator temperature (4±20C) for 21 days. It is aimed to determine the shelf life of mussel by physical, sensory, chemical, microbiological analysis during the storage period. According to the results, the quality of mussels meat was better in vacuum packaging than MAP but the weight loss was higher at vacuum packaging because of pressure. Results of TVB-N; TMA-N; TBA, sensory analysis and the number of psychrolophilic and mesophilic bacteria were similar and it was determined that the mussels became inconsumable at 21th day and 15th day in vacuum packed and MAP group respectively. During the period of storage, the number of coliform bacteria was between the limit values. The consumable period of mussel was found as 12 day and 18 day for MAP and vacuum group, respectively. Keywords: Mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis, L. 1819), modified atmosphere packaging (MAP), vacuum packaging, shelf life, cold storage